“I’ve never seen someone wanting to devote this much money to breaking new artists. Nobody in the music business has the marketing budget that I have.”

–Jermaine Dupri on the budget for the newly launched TAG Records, a joint venture between Procter & Gamble and Island Def Jam. The label will announce its first signee this summer. Watch J.D. at the TAG Records launch party on Rap-Up TV.

Read the accompanying article on music and branding from The New York Times, which also mentions Nicole Scherzinger and Pharrell.

Click below for a video of J.D. creating the score for the TAG commercial.

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“I don’t agree with it. [Kanye’s] my brother and the biggest artist on Roc-A-Fella right now. … I guess I should hook them up, because he’s a great guy, too. I don’t know what the problem is. I don’t know where that came from.”

–Jay-Z responds to MTV News about Amy Winehouse calling Kanye West a c**t during her performance at Glastonbury. Read all about it here.

“I’m not hiding anything. I can see if I was hiding something. I’m a grown man. Nobody is living no perfect life.”

–Swizz Beatz addresses his rumored affair with Alicia Keys to MTV News. The only affair Swizz is having is on the remix to Alicia’s “Teenage Love Affair,” which he produced. It features LL Cool J and samples Slick Rick’s “Teenage Love.” Swizz also revealed that he’s working with Michael Jackson to possibly produce his upcoming tour.

“This is my 15th year. This is what I do and I’m very, very straight. I don’t need anything. With my fanbase, I know—whether it’s downloaded, leaked or not—I know when I step on stage, I’m going to get the same reaction that I always get. That’s what matters to me.”

–Lil Wayne tells Newsweek when asked whether he cares if people buy or download Tha Carter III.

Watch Weezy bust out a freestyle on BET’s “106 & Park” below.

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“From the first time we sat down to discuss the video [”Bye Bye”] at the Beverly Hills Hotel, we connected. We had so much in common spiritually, and we laugh at the same things. I didn’t have to put on my Mac Daddy suave mode. I was able to be myself with her. We are both eternally 12 years old.”

–Nick Cannon tells PEOPLE about meeting his future wife Mariah Carey.

“It was horrible to listen to sonically, it was really cheap, and it already comes sounding like it’s a bad bootleg copy. And, you know, it’s just like vomit. It’s, like, third-world, malaria vomit.”

–M.I.A. tells the Los Angeles Times after listening to her sophomore album Kala, which was released last year and was named album of the year by Rolling Stone and Blender. The Sri Lankan rapper will play the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival this Saturday.

“I might f*** a bitch to [50 Cent’s] ‘Many Men.’ On a special occasion, I might do it with a blunt lit.”

–Rick Ross tells Rolling Stone what music he prefers to make love to. Someone get this man a reality show!

“This story is beyond ridiculous and is completely false. Neither Biggie nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during, or after it happened. It is a complete lie to suggest that there was any involvement by Biggie or myself. I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story.”

–Sean “Diddy” Combs in response to a story that appeared Monday on the Los Angeles Times‘ website claiming that he and the Notorious B.I.G. knew Tupac Shakur would be ambushed in a 1994 shooting at New York’s Quad Recording Studios.

Read the full article here.

“He’s a Pho-to-shop-aaaaaah,” Joe said, mimicking 50 Cent’s song “Window Shopper.”

–Fat Joe in response to 50 Cent and Papoose doctoring an image of him to make it look like he had a black eye. Fat Joe’s new album The Elephant in the Room is out now. Watch Joe perform on The CW 11 Morning News.

Source: MTV.com

“I am not taking something this ridiculous to Beyoncé. Beyoncé referred to Tina Turner as a ‘queen.’ Not queen of gospel, queen of soul, queen of blues, Queen of England. I consider my wife a queen and sometimes call her that. Does Aretha have a problem with that?”

–Mathew Knowles responds to Aretha Franklin’s criticism of his daughter for referring to Tina Turner as “the Queen” at the Grammys.